The Forgotten
by Devastator
Summary: Set after Beast Boys & Girls. What happens when one of those normal, nameless goons the good guys always thrash comes back, with more power than he dare to imagine? More to come. Chapter 5 has been deleted, enjoy.
1. Chapter 1: Breakfast, interrupted

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, or any references to films/ TV, etc made, in any way, shape or form

I know I don't have the characters personalities' right, but I'll try to work on that.

This is my first fan fic, so…hope you enjoy, and please REVIEW

**The Forgotten**

Part 1 – Breakfast, interrupted

_This takes place before an Infinite Crisis, occurring during a seemingly more innocent time, just after Beast Boys and Girls…_

_My name is Cassie Sandsmark, and I'm a hero. My life isn't all peaches & cream, like you'd think. I never knew my dad, like, at all. He just met my mom and they clicked. They did, y' know, then wham, bam, thank you m' am, and my mom has to juggle me & a career. She never knew who he was (and if she did, I hope that she had one hell of a reason for keeping it from me). _

_How I got to be a hero is a short story – my mom became friends with Wonder Woman (or former - Princess Diana of the amazons to friends), Diana has connections with the Greek Gods, I asked Zeus (the big cheese himself) to give me powers, and he granted me my wish. Although, it has a price – my mom knows & can take them away whenever she wants, but that's okay, even though things became harder for her when my identity was leaked (I was forced to fight at my old school)._

_I hooked up with Young Justice, a group of kids with powers like me, & I met Conner, better known as Superboy, and we clicked. Young Justice broke up, but me, Conner, Bart (Impulse, fastest boy alive) & Tim (Robin, Boy Wonder) joined a new version of the Teen Titans, and we're still together. _

_What can I do? I'm strong (like, almost Wonder Woman strong), I fly, I'm very fast, but not Flash fast, and my magic bracelets deflect bullets & magic. It's funny, sticks & stones won't break my bones, but bullets go right through me. That and I have Amazon training, making it a big mistake to get into a fist fight with me._

Saturday, (Titans' Tower), 9:45AM. The teamwere getting some well earned rest. The last week was a particularly hectic one, due to a mad scientist turning every kid in San Francisco under 13 into Beast Boys and Girls. That and most of the members had to save the world with their mentors, so they hadn't really had time to relax.

A young blonde girl awoke first. At first glance, she would seem unremarkable, just another, average height, blonde. A closer look would confirm that she was a very muscular young blonde. At a third glance, she would seem familiar, like she was someone famous. A fourth glance would confirm that she was who you thought.

In her 'casual' cloths, it would only take one look. To the world, she was known as Wonder Girl or, if you watched the news & read the papers in the past months, Cassie Sandsmark, daughter of Helena Sandsmark (a renowned historian) & superhero extraordinaire (in most teenage boy's opinions, anyway). Unlike most of her peers, she didn't have a secret identity, due to her being forced to use her abilities in public by a psychotic (or rather, confused & misguided) super-villain. When she had one, all it took to hide her identity was a black wig and a pair of sports goggles.

Right now, she looked exhausted.

Without even thinking about it, she changed into a set of clothes in which the world was more accustomed to seeing her in; the red tube top, red pants and black boots of Wonder Girl. _It's weird_. She thought, as soon as she realised what she was changing into. _I never really think of these as a costume, more like a … second skin, or a badge of honour. _

After a moment's hesitation, she picked up a long golden rope. This was hers, the lasso of Ares. It was a gift… from one of Wonder Woman's greatest foes.

_Why would he give this to me? _She pondered, staring at it._ It's indestructible & can call Zeus' lightning when I get mad. It's handy, very handy. _

_He says he's teaching me to feel anger, to fuel me when I need it, but for what…_

After what seemed to be an eternity, she put it on. Every time she picked it up, she could feel a twinge around her spine. It was the same twinge she got when Diana saved her for the first time. It was fear… and excitement. _What am I afraid of?_ She asked herself while tip toeing past the bedrooms. She could hear Gar & Bart snoring, loudly. Someday, she planned to do something about that.

She hadn't told her team-mates about Ares. What was she supposed to say: 'Hey guys, I took a gift from a lunatic who wanted to start World War 3. What's on T.V.?' Hell no. Even if she could tell them, if things went wrong they couldn't stop him, not without help.

_Would Donna ever do that?_ She wondered, while creeping downstairs, _Would Donna, or Diana, ever take a gift from Ares?_ Whether or not Donna Troy (the original Wonder Girl) would have, Cassie would never know, due to her being dead, murdered by a Superman android. Diana…that was a different story, as she would have probably done exactly as Cassie did, if, as Ares said, there was a battle coming.

She helped herself to an apple from the fridge and was washing it at the sink, still looking her gift horse in the mouth. Twice, she'd glanced at the sinks reflective surface. Ares had a bad habit of spying on her through reflective surfaces. She found nothing, thankfully.

_Why?_ A thought struck her. _If he isn't my father…could he be doing this as a favour…or job… for my father?_

She quickly dismissed the idea. After all, it made no sense. Ares only looked out for number one, and one of the few he would consider obeying was Zeus. She already asked Zeus if he was her father, and he denied it, so that ruled him out. IF this was a task set by Zeus, why ask Ares to do it, when there were a number of people who he could put more trust in (mostly Amazons).

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Then someone made a small fake cough. She made a mental note to pay more attention next time she entered the kitchen.

Thanks to Amazon training, she had turned around, drawn out her lasso, and assumed a combat pose in the time it took most of the population to blink.

He simply clapped his hands.

He wasn't very imposing, despite being about 6ft, wearing what looked like silver armour with black arms and legs. He wasn't even doing anything threatening, just buttering toast at the table.

However, his face gave Cassie, who'd seen things in this line of work that you wouldn't believe in your worst nightmares, goose bumps along her neck. He was wearing a silver, almost featureless, mask, with a dark visor made of glass or plastic. Through this visor, she could see his eyes. They were blue, pupil-less, eyes (ala Starfire). Not blue as in 'sky blue', but glowing a vivid electric blue. She felt as though these eyes were staring right into her, and, for all she knew, he could have been.

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She quickly recovered. "Who the hell are you, and how did you get in?"

"Simple," he replied, with a voice that sounded eerily distant, yet close, "I got in."

"Answer the question!"

"I've got a better idea, Cassie." he said, in a way that sounded like he was talking to a small child. "Why don't you press the panic button nearby and wake the others?"

She was taken aback by his manner, wondering _How can he know the tower layout_, but didn't let it show. "Here's my idea…" She quickly looped her lasso round him, and then pressed the button, all the while not taking her eye off him.

A couple of seconds later, the entire team assemble (fully dressed) downstairs. Cassie moved the stranger to the living room. He was complaining loudly. She was starting to get annoyed and fighting the urge to electrocute him.

_Why couldn't this thing have a stun setting?_ She thought, angrily. The lasso only had one voltage level: barbeque, and if he couldn't handle it, he'd be no good to anyone.

"You know, you could at least let me finish breakfast. Is this how you treat all house guests?"

"You're NOT a guest!" She hissed through clenched teeth.

He was probably going to give a smart ass remark but was cut off by Starfire pointing a glowing hand in his face.

"You will tell us why you are here and how you got in." She had that look on her face that clearly said "if you don't give me what I want, I'll kick your ass."

Meanwhile, the others prepared for a confrontation.

Cyborg was pointing his sonic cannon

Superboy clenched his fists

Robin held a batarang in his hand

Kid Flash was in a boxing position, twitching at super-speed

Beast Boy changed into a grizzly bear and was growling

Raven, on the other hand, stared at the stranger, as if he was an unknown species.

_I really wish Raven wouldn't stare like that_. Raven's strange powers were often unnerving to people who didn't know her, and Cassie was no exception.

The stranger simply looked from one to another and spoke in a voice that sounded like he had a smirk beneath his mask. "… Ah, the Titans' ass kicking poses. Alright, do you want to know?"

_Yes, dammit!_ Cassie thought

"Yes." Cyborg answered

"Alright, my name," the stranger's eyes scanned the room, "is… Aftermath." He paused.

Cyborg cocked his eyebrow. "And that means…what to us?"

"It's a name, take it or leave it, and as for why I'm here, let's just say I'm here as a…favour for Dick. A very big one, considering how he's now wasting his time with a team that has a Terminator for a member"

All the Titans tensed up as one. If he meant what they thought it could only mean trouble.

_Dick?_ The mention of the former Titan and current leader of the Outsiders brought all kinds of mixed emotions to her. On the one hand, he was kind of like an older brother, seeing as he was the first Titan to 'graduate' and get out of his mentors' shadow.

On the other hand, he was currently the leader of the team employing a …the soulless killing machine responsible for Donna Troy's death. _From the looks of things_, she thought, tightening her grip _nobody saw that coming._

Shellshock would have been a better description of the looks on some of the Titan's faces. Starfire, seeing as how close she and Dick were, looked like she'd gone 2 seconds with Doomsday. Gar reverted back to human form from the shock. A few gizmos she didn't know Cyborg had, suddenly popped up.

"What," Kid Flash slowly asked, "do you mean 'a favour for Dick'?"

The stranger or 'Aftermath' looked straight at him. "I'd think spending your time in libraries would have improved your deductive powers…Bart! Maybe you should finish Sherlock Holmes." His eyes flicked to Robin. "Tim, you probably know that I'm no friend of Dick's, otherwise he'd have told you, or" his eyes flicked around the room "at least Kory, or Victor, or Gar, or possibly Raven if he's in a good mood, considering..."

Kid Flash's jaw dropped at over 75mph, and then closed just as fast.

No one spoke, and it was obvious to Cassie why. Knowing who Gar and Victor were was easy enough, but Dick, Tim and Bart…that meant he knew their secrets.

Cassie quickly moved over to Raven. "What are you picking up from him?" Cassie whispered to her.

Raven paused before speaking. "Nothing, nothing I can recognise anyway."

"So…is he, like, a …robot." If Raven couldn't sense his emotions, that either meant he was resistant to empathy, or he wasn't alive.

She shook her hooded head. "I can tell that he has emotions, and that he is alive, but I can't sense what they are exactly. It's like…trying to listen to a badly tuned radio."

_Okay, so…he's not human… or is he?_

Superboy was the first to recover from him playing the 'Dick card'.

"What the hell are you talk- -"

"Come on, Conner." He chuckled, while flexing against the lasso. "Maybe living on that farm and eating corn has simplified things a little too much."

After a long pause, Beast Boy spoke. "How do you know about us? Are you, like, spying on us?"

"No."

Suddenly, Aftermath was free of the lasso.

He just came free, like the knots had been loosened. _How_ _the hell did that happen?_

No one knew how, all they saw was that one moment, he was bound, the next he had an arm around Beast Boy's shoulder.

Cassie crouched, getting ready to pounce, until a look from Ti—Robin froze her in her tracks.

Aftermath continued, without missing a beat. "I've gotta tell ya, Gar…I LOVED space trek! I never saw it on TV, but I own all the DVDs. One of my cousins, a girl if you were wondering, thinks you're adorable."

He turned and placed both of his large hands on Gar's shoulders, making him flinch.

The team got ready for anything.

"However," he addressed Gar in a more serious tone, "if you EVER go to a reunion with the cast, and play Tork again, for any reason, other than charity, I'll kill you the year after you do it!"

"Why would you do that if you liked Space Trek?" Gar almost yelled, as his grip had nearly cut off his circulation.

Aftermath noticed and dropped his arms to his sides. "Because," he spoke slowly & deliberately, as he walked towards the kitchen, followed by the whole team, "everyone knows these reunions never work, and, if they decided to resurrect the show…well it just wouldn't be Space Trek. Besides, then I could stuff you, and send your corpse to my cousin as a unique birthday present. You'd be the last piece of Tork memorabilia in existence, worth more than this tower's weight in gold. Don't tell me you're not tempted."

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"You're sick, you know that!" Cyborg spat.

He pretended to look offended. "Don't you know that saying things like that hurts my feelings?"

"I don't care."

"Oh, well, if young Frankenstein doesn't mind, I'm getting breakfast. Do you want some toast?"

Starfire blinked "What?"

"Do you want toast, a grilled bread product? You see, toast is a form of bread, which is made from ingredients including a plant called--"

"We know what toast is! Just tell us what you want!" Cassie yelled. Lightning crackled along her lasso.

Aftermath looked in the fridge, before replying "I wouldn't mind any pancakes. Or waffles, waffles are good. Got milk? Or—"

Conner yelled this time. "What do you want with us!"

"Oh, that."

"Yes, that! Now tell us you creep!"

"Why don't you tell them your dirty little secret first? Scared that would make you, as you so eloquently put it, a 'Titan's wacko'?

Conner flushed.

Cassie looked to Conner, "What does he mean?" The thought that Conner, one of her closest friends, could be keeping secrets was enough to make her forget all about Ares, and his agenda.

"It appears," Aftermath explained quickly, while buttering some toast, "that his creation…had flaws in it resulting in a soft spot right between his ears."

Cassie turned back to him, her eyes blazing with fury. _Who the hell does he think he is, playing with my feelings like that? Who does he think he is--_

She hadn't noticed Conner wiping sweat from his brow (imagined, since kryptonians tended not to sweat) and shooting a quick glace at Robin from the corner of his eye.

Raven, possibly due to sensing the tension cut in. "What is it you seek here? What did you hope to gain, and why?"

"The same goes double for me. Now make with the answers!" Kid Flash chimed in.

Aftermath simply put both feet on the table. A circular hole opened in his mask, revealing nothing except darkness and several needle-like teeth, and he popped a piece of toast in it. After a few moments of chewing, he answered "To put it simply I'm an insane--"

"As if we didn't know that by know." Kid Flash muttered under his breath

"— an insane lunatic," he continued, "with power beyond your limited imaginations—"

"Limited?" Robin cut in this time

"Well, more limited in Conner's case, considering that his head is denser than a Neutron star."

Conner glared at him, his eyes gaining a reddish tint, indicating that he would have loved an excuse to fry him with heat vision right then.

Aftermath appeared not to notice.

Everyone else had noticed, however, that his mask was still open.

"Now where was I?" he tapped his mask, where his chin would be located. "Ah, yes. I'm an insane lunatic, with power beyond your limited imaginations, who's here…to thank you."

"For what, we've never even met you before." Starfire retorted.

He nodded. "You did, just not as I am now."

"How were you before?" Raven asked.

"Different. That all changed, thanks to you."

"Then why not send a gift basket?" Robin phrased delicately, while reaching for a gas bomb. He gave discreet signals via his hands to the others. Everyone moved back a couple of inches.

Still caught in his rant, Aftermath apparently hadn't noticed. "In case you never noticed, Tim, no one sends gift baskets anymore. Besides, what I'm selling is a million times better. I'm giving a good old – fashioned - -"

Robin threw the gas bomb at him.

After being hit, he simply sat there, at the table, unmoving. Then he tilted back his head and laughed, long and hard.

"You still got it Tim! I thought you were slipping after letting your pencil - neck father push you around, and letting your girl friend, what was her name…sprawler, do your dirty work."

"Her name," Robin said in as dangerous a tone he could manage "was Stephanie, and she called herself Spoiler."

"Whatever." His mouth hole sealed itself. "But, just to let you know, I liked her. She had spirit, just didn't help her too much. And, your little Tom Cruise impression… it's no match for my Cruise missile." He swiftly reached behind his back pulling out a missile launcher.

A large missile launcher

A missile launcher he couldn't possibly have been carrying.

He then proceeded to demonstrate it was real by firing a missile at them.

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Raven teleported the Titans out of the way before the missile hit, resulting in one of the walls being demolished. The resulting hole led outside, over fifty feet above their outdoor training facility.

"Why'd you that, you maniac?" Cassie yelled, swinging her lasso around her, while she used her flight power to rocket into Aftermath, knocking him into the opposite wall. She pinned him to it with her arm, making him drop his missile launcher.

"Way to go, Cass!" She heard Superboy whoop

"You go, girl!" Beast Boy cried out. There was a slapping sound, like a high five

"What they said!" Kid Flash yelled.

"Why Cassie," Aftermath said in a cheesy southern voice that reminded her of a car salesman she met years ago, "rushing in, willy-nilly, not thinking. That sounds a lot like Bart, very Impulsive. Speaking of Bart…" He tilted his head towards Kid Flash and called in his normal voice. "Hey! Bart! Your old name rocked, but your old costume sucked!"

"What do you mean, my costume sucked?"

"You looked like a toddler." He threw back his head and laughed like a maniac.

Cassie tightened her grip on him. "Just what were you thinking? We're the Teen Titans; we practically eat missiles for lunch!"

He looked at her with those electric blue eyes.

"Nothing, I just always wanted to do that. I always wanted to do this, as well."

Suddenly, he grabbed her by the throat with his right hand, cutting off her airway. She gasped for breath, scrabbling for a hold. His grip felt like a steel vice.

The other Titans started to rush forward. He simply raised his left hand, which, out of the corner of her eye, she saw glowing an eerie red.

"CHAOS BLAST!" He yelled, as a glowing red energy wave shot from his hand, knocking the other Titans through the hole and outside.

Cassie managed to loop her lasso around his wrist while he was distracted, before sending a lightning-bolt through her lasso. The electric burst caused him to release her and sent him flying backwards into a wall. She leapt on top of him before he could recover, punching him twice in the face. He caught her fist on the 3rd punch.

Suddenly, she fell to her knees as a sharp, piercing pain shot up her arm. The same red energy that hit the others was now working its way from his hand, along her arm. It felt like it was on fire. Taking advantage, he clenched her, hard, by the shoulder, slamming her back to the wall so hard she saw stars.

He then punched Cassie five times in the stomach & chest, in rapid succession, knocking the wind out of her and breaking some ribs on the 5th blow.

He then flung her like a rag doll towards the hole. She was too stunned to fly, or do anything else.

She heard him cry "I like you, Cassie, but you're no Donna Troy. Oh, and I know I ripped off Shadow the hedgehog"

She flew, out of her control, over the bay and towards the sea. When she landed, the impact was hard enough to liquidate ordinary persons' bones many times over.

Despite hitting the water at the wrong angle, she skipped across the water like a stone. Each impact was hard enough to drive what little air she'd accumulated out of her lungs.

She stopped bouncing on the 7th impact, and began to sink.

In her case, she wouldn't need to worry about broken bones, but drowning and whatever damage landing on top of broken ribs would cause.

_He played me, he played us_

_Can't breath… ribs broken, falling down… somewhere… I'm sorry, mom._

_I'm sorry, Donna, Diana, Conner…everyone…I wasn't strong enough_

As she fell deeper, lapsing into unconsciousness, she only thought one more thing; _Why? _

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So it began.

He'd made the first move. He'd practically declared war on the Teen Titans, the most powerful (alright, potentially the most powerful) team on the planet. One day, they would be able to move mountains and beat up guys like Darkseid, Brainiac, Despero, etc, without any trouble.

For the moment, they were tough, but not unbeatable.

Getting past the high-tech security was, pardon the phrase, 'child's play'. Beating the snot out of them would be a small step

Right now, however, he couldn't lose to them, it was too early. He had to repay his debt to them. After all, he hated being in someone's debt…and he always believed in giving as good as you got.


	2. Chapter 2: Making an omelete

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, or any references to films/ TV, etc made, in any way, shape or form

I know I still don't have the characters personalities' right, (I mean, I don't think they wouldn't just stand around during an intrusion) but I'll try to work on that.

Hope you enjoy, and please REVIEW

**The forgotten**

Part 2 – making an omelette

_This takes place before an Infinite Crisis, occurring during a seemingly more innocent time, just after Beast Boys and Girls…_

_My name is Victor Stone, and I'm… complicated. I used to be pretty ordinary. Black kid, teenage athlete, with scientist parents, only child, that kind of stuff. I walked into their lab during a dangerous experiment, there was an accident, and I got hurt…badly. My mom died in the accident, and my dad got cancer. Some would call me the lucky one. A pity I didn't know it then. _

_One of my dad's side projects was a cybernetic suit, for military applications. A few modifications later, and the parts of me that were destroyed in the accident were replaced with mechanical parts. I became a Cyborg. _

_When I woke up and saw what he did to me…I didn't take it well (if you call begging him to let me die taking it hard). _

_If you saw me, you would be inclined to agree with how I felt back then. So far, I have an artificial left eye, mechanical arms and legs, the left side of my face is mechanical, and so is most of my chest and most of the organs inside me. All the implants are obvious; I can't just waltz around and pretend I'm normal. I don't even have blood anymore, just synthetic oil with some blood mixed in. _

_I felt like a freak. I mean, before, people could judge me by the colour of my skin, but then people saw me as being lowest common denominator, a machine, subhuman. I didn't have a friend in the word. My dad couldn't help, and if he could I wouldn't let him._

_Then, the Titans found me, and I met kids who'd got as hard a time as I did. I felt like I belonged. With them, I finally managed to forgive my dad before he passed on, and prove to myself, and everyone else, that I'm more than just science gone wrong. That beneath these implants, beneath the parts you see, I'm still a man. _

_When the Titans broke up, I set up a new version of the Titans for today's kids, so they have somewhere to go. _

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As Victor Stone, better known as Cyborg (the Teen Titan, NOT the enemy of Superman) fell, he saw his team-mate, Wonder Girl (a.k.a. Cassie Sandsmark) fly out of the recently created hole in their h.q. (Titans Tower) like a rocket.

_My God_ he thought _I hope, for that monsters' sake, that she's okay_.

He put his concern for Cassie to the back of his mind. Right now, they had to do something about the crazed lunatic with a grudge

In this situation, the team functioned almost perfectly, despite being hit by a burst of who-knows-what rays. It hurt, a lot

Starfire scooped up Kid Flash.

Robin and Beast Boy were caught by Raven

Superboy caught Cyborg by the arm. From the look on his face, Cyborg could tell that what Superboy – Conner- really wanted was to find Cassie, and kick some ass.

"If you look first…" The psycho known as Aftermath called out to them. He then jumped out of the hole he made, passing the Titans along the way, before crashing into the ground, leaving a small crater.

"…You may not leap." He finished. He then turned towards the ocean, in the direction Cassie went in.

In the distance, Cyborg's electronic eye saw a human-sized object skip across the water, before sinking.

"Is it her?" He asked Superboy. His super-vision was much better at picking out distant objects.

"Yes."

As soon as he dropped off Cyborg, Superboy took off towards Cassie's location.

"Kid Flash," Cyborg called to Bart, "Go with him!"

Kid Flash did a salute at super speed. "You got it, rusty."

He ran after Superboy, going so fast that he was actually running across the water's surface.

"Hey! You creep!" Cyborg yelled at Aftermath, converting his right arm into sonic cannon form and pointing it at the back of his head.

Aftermath rotated his head 180 degrees, towards Cyborg.

"Yeah, I know. I stole a line from the Transformers. So sue me."

His eyes were now giving off a bright aqua-green glow.

Cyborg's electronic eye was picking up some kind of energy signature. What kind, he couldn't say, and it was gradually intensifying. Everything about this guy was starting to bug him.

In the distance, Cyborg could see Bart and Connor racing towards Cassie

_If I don't get some answers soon, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind. _

"What the hell are you?" He nearly spat through clenched teeth

Aftermath's eyes just glowed brighter. He turned the rest of his body so that it faced the same direction as his head.

"You'll see. In the meantime…" Aftermath waved his arm in Cassie's general direction. "Watch and wait…"

"We've waited enough!" Starfire yelled, as she hurled a Star- bolt at the small of his back.

He sidestepped it easily.

"Watch..." He pointed back to the ocean.

Cyborg looked towards the sea. In the distance, he saw Connor and Bart circling a spot. Then, a human sized object rose slowly out of the circle's centre.

_Cassie_

He could have jumped for joy. _She's flying! She's okay!_

Suddenly, she flew straight into Superboy like a missile, both of them shooting back towards the tower.

_What the hell_

Both of them crashed into the ground near the tower. Kid Flash was there in an instant.

"What happened, Kid Flash?" Robin asked, not taking his eyes off Cassie and Superboy.

"I donknow.itsliketheywereboththrownbytelekinesis, orsomekindofmindcontrol,or- -"

"Let's stick with the… err…" Beast Boy turned towards kid Flash, raising his hands in an inquiring position. "What was the last thing you said?"

"We've really got to do something about speed-babbling." Robin sighed.

Bart shot both of them a quick look, before he dashed right into their resident psychopath.

"Never mind that now!" He called, while pummelling Aftermath with hundreds of punches & kicks. "Let's just stop this at the source!"

No-one could argue with that.

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Raven was beside Cassie & Connor, doing what she did best – trying to patch everyone up.

"How are they?" Cyborg asked, crouching beside her.

"Superboy is only stunned." Raven replied while placing a glowing hand on Cassie's side. "But Wonder Girl has 2 broken ribs and a concussion."

"So… it's nothing serious then." He readied his sonic cannon, preparing to jump into the melee.

"Before you…" She paused, possibly searching for the right word. "…'get stuck in', I need you to get him up."

"Why?"

"She almost drowned. She needs CPR, soon."

Not missing a beat, he shook Connor by the shoulder.

"Come on, wake up. We need you."

In an instant, Connor was up. His fists clenched, his eyes blazing (not literally) and ready for anything. He immediately softened once he saw Raven hovering over Cassie.

"How is she?" He whispered, his upper lip was on the verge of quivering.

"Fine," Cyborg replied, "but we need you to give her CPR."

"Why?"

"Because both you and Cassie have super-strength, and Raven and I don't"

"…So…"

"So, only you can pump air into her lungs."

With that, Conner bent over Cassie and began to work.

Cyborg, in the meantime, leaped into the fray.

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In the meantime, Kid Flash had been pummelling Aftermath hundreds of times.

"Hey Kid!" Beast Boy, now in elephant form, yelled. "Save some for us!"

"Leave the most for me!" Starfire chimed, powering up her star-bolts.

Robin drew a grapple-gun from his belt, as well as a couple of batarangs.

"So, what'reyougonnadonow,punk?" Kid Flash taunted, while circling him at super-speed, constantly knocking him down.

"I'm gonna do this." Aftermath slammed a fist into the ground underneath.

A circular shock-wave spread along the ground, sending Kid Flash flying. He landed in a heap, bruised but alive.

Starfire picked up the slack, sending two star-bolts into Aftermath's chest, knocking him down.

Before he fully recovered, Robin sent out the cable, winding it around the maniac's legs

While he was distracted, ripping the steel cable, Beast Boy (still in elephant form) charged into him.

"No need to fear, Dumbo's here to kick ass!" A lame joke, even by Gar's standard, but how many good elephant jokes are there, anyway?

Aftermath dug his feet into the ground, before bending down and lifting elephant-Gar up

"Uh-oh, guess it's time for this bird to fly."

Gar morphed into a falcon, slipping out of his grip.

_Nice one, green-genes,_ Cyborg thought, letting off a sonic blast, _now to show him what happens if you mess with the Titans_

The blast caught Aftermath in the chest, driving him back a step.

Unfazed, he whipped out a pistol, from behind his back and shot Cyborg, sending a sonic blast that knocked the Titan to the ground. While he was stunned, Aftermath ran up to him, replacing the sonic-pistol with a long scimitar (a curved sword) which crackled with energy. He stood over Cyborg.

"Sorry to cut and run," He quipped, while preparing what could have been a killing blow, "but I've got big plans for you kids and--"

He was cut off when Wonder Girl (now recovered) slammed into his back, knocking him into another section of the training area.

"Too bad," She yelled as he skidded along the ground, "'cause we've got other plans!"

As he was about to get up, a familiar (and well-missed) voice called out

"Yoo-hoo, I hope you haven't lost your appetite, 'cause the main course is here! Tonight's special is big, green, so rare it's extinct and weighing over 13,000 pounds."

A massive green T-Rex landed on top of Aftermath. The T-Rex then bowed, and did, what Cyborg swore, was a large grin (if T-Rex's could grin, that is).

"Don't thank me." Gar joshed, shaking his massive, sabre-toothed head.

"If that is your wish, then we won't." Raven said, her left eyebrow slightly raised

"Hey, that was a joke! If I say--"

"I know, I was… pulling your knee."

"That's leg, 'pulling your LEG'."

"Oh."

Cyborg shook his head

"Enough already, let's see if he's more co-operative now."

Superboy cracked his knuckles

"…And what if he isn't?"

A muffled voice came from beneath Gar's foot

"It's too bad, for you."

"What? Could you speak up a little?" Wonder Girl replied in a mocking tone.

His response was to throw Gar off him, forcing him to change to octopus form, to avoid harming anyone or being harmed. He landed on top of Kid Flash, entangling them, and stunning Bart.

After rising from the impact crater, he pulled out a pocket-sized 3-pronged spear. Before he could fire it, a batarang knocked it from his hand, sending it skidding across the ground. A kick to the face by Robin kept him off balance. A burst of heat-vision (courtesy of Superboy) almost hit his chest, before an outstretched palm entered its path. The beam slowed down and was redirected towards the now human Beast Boy, singeing his rear end.

Gar's cry of pain caused some of the Titans to let up their onslaught. Some, but not all of them.

Superboy, undaunted, slammed his fist into the ground, sending a telekinetic wave through it.

"Try sending this back, creep."

Aftermath jumped over it, his visor lifting up the second he touched ground again, revealing his glowing blue eyes.

"See if you like the taste of this, Pinocchio."

Superboy blinked.

"What!"

A beam of blue energy shot from his eyes, striking Superboy so hard it drove him to the ground. Wonder Girl dove in the way, blocking it with her bracelets and sending the beam back. The beam harmlessly struck his hand and was absorbed into it.

"Here's my motto, Cass," he said, "'don't dish it if you can't take it'"

His eyes changed colour, from blue to green, and Superboy's body flew straight into Wonder Girl's back, knocking her to the ground.

The two teens lay in a heap, until he raised his arm, levitating them into the air. They then plummeted back to earth, colliding with the ground so hard that they formed a small crater.

Cyborg jumped onto Aftermath, grappling with him. Aftermaths' Left had a hold on Cyborg's right arm, and vice versa.

Aftermath closed his visor.

"Y' know," he tightened his grip on Cyborg's right arm, "I can't get over how badly you built these toys of yours."

"What do you mean? These 'toys' are state of the art."

Cyborg tried not to show it, but his mechanical parts were straining to keep his arms where they were. If he strained any more, he'd burn out something vital. The creep was tougher than he looked.

Aftermath, on the other hand, didn't appear to be straining, but it was impossible to tell, due to his mask/ helmet/ whatever.

"I'm just saying…" he swung Cyborg's left arm behind his back, putting it in a hammer-lock. "…that these new-fangled toys break as soon as they come out of the box!"

"If you don't get off my arm, I'll make sure to put YOU in a box!"

"It's okay, you can keep it…"

He released Cyborg's arm. The Titan whirled around, but before he could attack, he stared at his left arm.

The arm was now covered up to the elbow in several faint blue 'cracks'. After a few seconds, the arm fell apart, like the cheap junk salesmen try to flog.

Although his mask couldn't convey emotions, Cyborg could tell that Aftermath was grinning, or at least smirking.

"What did I tell you?" He shook his head, pulling out a grenade-sized object from behind his back with his left hand. "American engineering…"

Cyborg gaped, astonished by what happened. "What the hell did you do to my arm?"

"If I were you, I'd be more worried about your 'heart of steel'." He pulled Cyborg's main power cell from behind his back. Cyborg ran a quick system's diagnostic. The power cell had been removed over 10 seconds ago, with absolutely no damage done to his body in the process. He hadn't felt a thing when it was removed (apart from a slight drop in power, but he assumed that it was caused by overexertion at the time).

_This guy's tricks could spice up Mr. Miracle's act _

"Don't need it; I've got several reserve power cells." Tapping into his reserves, and getting a 'second wind' Cyborg used a football tackle, managing knocking Aftermath to the ground.

Undaunted, the lunatic kicked Cyborg off, but he managed to land back on his mechanical feet. Aftermath still clenched the grenade sized object. In his right hand, he'd replaced the power cell with his 3-pronged spear.

"Sorry, Franken-kid, you've just been upgraded to…" he threw it, embedding it into Cyborg's chest. "…a novelty paper-weight."

Victor collapsed onto his back, partially from the impact, partially because the device embedded in him was draining his reserve power. He was now, effectively, paralyzed.

_Damn, can't move… _

He swiftly turned and hitting Starfire with the object in his hand. The object exploded, covering her in a black dust. Blinded, she lost control, crash-landing. In an instant, she was back on her feet.

"Varblernelk," She cursed in Tameranean, wiping some of the dust from her face. "What is…this…this mess?"

She spat some out of her mouth, before shooting two star bolts towards Aftermath. He performed his redirection trick again, redirecting the bolts towards Robin (who dodged, continuing to run afterwards) and Raven (who stopped tending to Conner & Cassie in order to block with her soul-self)

Starfire tried again. This time, her hands simply fizzled, before the glow faded.

She tried again - nothing happened this time.

"X'hal!" She exclaimed, staring at her dust-covered hands. "What in the name of --"

A fist in her face cut her off. She flew back, landing hard on the ground. She didn't get up.

"Solar energy diffusing/ absorbing dust; never leave home without it."

Robin caught his chest with a explosive batarang. He followed it up with a kick to the faceplate. Before it connected, Aftermath caught Robin by the foot. The boy wonder screamed, as the lunatic exerted pressure on his foot, though not enough to break it, though Cyborg could tell that he damaged something, most likely a muscle.

_Dammit. The kid's getting killed, an' I can't stop it_. It would take several minutes to re-route the emergency power cells that the gizmo hadn't drained. Robin would need some luck if he would ever live that long. Everyone (except Raven) was down, or stunned. Raven getting involved in physical confrontations was usually the equivalent of dropping a bomb, it was overkill.

_If there was ever a time to cut loose Rave, do it now_

Unfortunately, Cyborg got his wish.

"This madness ends NOW!" Raven yelled. A black shadow rose from Raven's body. This shadow (her soul-self) formed the shape of a raven, before it shot towards Aftermath. Once it touched him, he would either be sucked into a nameless dimension, forced to confront his deepest fears, or who knows.

_I could almost pity him _Cyborg mused _…almost._

Aftermath's eyes apparently (it was hard to tell) widened. "…Oh… heck!"

He dropped Robin.

What happened next was anyone's guess. Raven's soul-self entered his body, passing through his chest like it wasn't even there. That usually happened.

What happened next was news to them.

Lightning-like arcs of energy crackled through her soul-self.

Both of them screamed in pain, before an energy surge separated them. The soul-self shattered like cheap glass.

Raven flew to the ground, before convulsing on the ground like she'd been struck by lightning. Instead of screaming in pain, she was laughing fit to burst.

_Good god, what did he do to her!_

Aftermath flew to the ground. After a few seconds, he climbed painfully to his feet, clutching his chest.

"That was…excruciating," He gasped, rapidly recovering, "but that's nothing compared to what's in store for you."

He turned, reaching out towards her…

----------------------------------------------------------------------

…before a crimson glove punched him in the face. Kid Flash came back round, readying for another attack.

A golden rope slammed into the armoured lunatic's chest, sending him flying back with a surge of electricity. Wonder Girl was back in the game…just.

Superboy flew shakily behind Kid Flash, while Beast Boy dashed to Raven, in cheetah form, before changing back.

Raven was still laughing.

"C'mon, Rave, snap out of it. This is no time for… emotion sickness." Gar lifted her head up as gently as possible.

She was struggling to say something between laughs.

"Ha…Ha…H…Phil…" She passed out.

"No, Gar." Gar shook her gently. "C'mon, c'mon, wake up. We have to get you an' Kory someplace safe."

"There…is no sanctuary." A bolt of energy hit Gar in the back. He fell backwards, and didn't get up.

Aftermath turned around, and hobbled towards Cyborg, still clutching his chest.

Starfire, Gar and Raven were still out cold. Robin and Cyborg struggled painfully to their feet. Cyborg managed to pull the offending device from his chest, making sure to examine it with his electronic eye before casting it aside.

"Thanks for the…workout, kids," Aftermath rasped, seeming unsteady on his feet, "but for now, it's time for you to go down!"

Kid Flash smirked. "Make us, tin-grin!"

Aftermath shrugged. "Okay."

Arcs of lightning-like energy flew from his outstretched hands (like Force lightning in Star Wars), suspending Kid Flash, Superboy, Robin, Wonder Girl and Cyborg in midair, before sending them flying backwards. Wonder Girl, Cyborg and Superboy got up shakily. Robin and Kid Flash were out cold.

Cyborg felt like he was running on an eighth of his power, but he couldn't lie down. Not yet, not even to seal up his shattered arm and stop the flow of 'blood'.

Superboy gasped for breath. "That all you got, 'partner'?"

Aftermath cocked his head, like he was looking at a strange lab specimen.

"No," He replied, raising his visor, "it isn't."

This time, the lightning-energy, eye blasts and a red-burst struck them. They were all knocked to the ground, hard, completely overwhelmed by pain.

Cyborg's internal computer had only 3 things to 'say', in binary, "_Power levels: - depleted. Shut down: - Imminent". Recording: - stopped._

The last thing Cyborg saw was a black & silver boot slamming into his face…

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Aftermath's kick removed part of Cyborg's mechanical side.

Thankfully, nothing mechanical was damaged.

Silently cursing to himself, he turned Cyborg's head to the side & replaced the parts. The last thing he needed was damaged goods…at least for now, and he could do without somebody rebuilding him with as a novelty Swiss-army knife (like the Russians during that damn 'Titans Hunt' affair).

He paused, overseeing the destruction caused by their fight. He then picked up a fragment of the arm he destroyed.

"What a waste. Re-assemble."

His eyes took on that green glow, and the various fragments of the mechanical arm began rejoining, until he was holding a whole lower arm. He then used his re-assembling power to re-attach it, seamlessly, back in place. It looked brand new.

If his goal was to be achieved, then the last thing to do would be to make a mess. He hated messy business, but unfortunately, digging into things (in this case the past) resulted in mess. He accomplished the 3rd goal he had ever held in his life; he'd beaten the Teen Titans by himself. It always bothered him a little that these Super-villain groups didn't really consider them important (and for the love of goodness, why wasn't there an Anti-Teen Titans out there)?

The Teen Titans, the only real opposition actually worth beating down. He wouldn't sully his hands on the Outsiders (though he could make an exception for Nightwing or that android responsible for Donna Troy's death).

He considered taking one of them as bait, but decided the humiliation of being beaten by nobody would probably be more effective.

He then set his sights on his new goals: - repairing the tower, letting the Titans rest, giving San Francisco something to really be amazed about…and returning the hand that fate (and partially the Titans) had dealt him. He believed in repaying debts.

He got to work…


	3. Chapter 3: Observer effect

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans in any way, shape or form. Any similarities to anyone's work are purely a co-incidence.

Sorry about the delay, but I've been reworked this chapter several times, before I got something that worked. This one's more Robin - centric, but I don't quite think I got his POV quite right. I don't know if Tim's dad ever asked if he wanted to be Batman, so I improvised.

**The Forgotten**

Part 3 - observer effect

_This takes place before an Infinite Crisis, occurring during a seemingly more innocent time, just after Beast Boys and Girls…_

_My name is Tim Drake and for now I'm Robin, the boy wonder. Actually, I'm the third boy wonder. The original (Dick Grayson) grew up and calls himself Nightwing, getting out of Batman's shadow. The second (Jason Todd) was brutally murdered by the Joker. _

_Like many of my friends, I started off as a normal kid. Granted, I'm a very intelligent one, but normal none the less. I became involved with Batman after Jason Todd died. I noticed in the news that Batman was becoming darker, and more brutal, due to his failure at preventing Jason's death. At the rate he was going, I thought that he could cross the line, and become no better than the people he puts away._

_At first, I went to Dick, trying to get him to become Robin again, and act as Batman's conscience. I said Dick, not Nightwing. You see, I actually deduced the secret identities of Batman and many of his allies. I figured out Dick's when I saw him perform a quadruple summersault as Robin. Only four people on earth can pull one off, and Robin was the same age as Dick. Using his identity, I deduced from that, that Bruce Wayne, his adopted guardian, must be Batman, due to his wealth and his…experience with the darker side of life - his parent's murder by a thug._

_Dick naturally refused, so I was forced to become Robin to save Batman from the Scarecrow. Bruce was…reluctant, but, after seeing how I deduced his secret he couldn't just let me go. After a period of intense mental and physical training, he let me put on the costume. _

_Things were different for me, though. All the Bat-family have usually lost at least one relative to violence, before becoming crime-fighters. Both of my parents were alive before I became Robin. During my initiation, my mother was murdered, and my dad was hurt, badly. After I became Robin, he started dating, which I'm cool with. I never told him that I was Robin. I mean, how could I tell him that every night I was beating up criminals with a masked vigilante? I felt bad lying to him, but people needed my help, and that took priority _

_I also made connections away from Gotham, forming the now-defunct team Young Justice. When we broke up, a few of us joined the new Teen Titans._

_My dad (and step-mom) eventually found out and he…freaked. He threatened to expose what little he knew about Batman's secrets, unless I quit. So I did, for a while, until the Gotham gang war erupted. When the war spilled into my high school, I realised that I couldn't just ignore it anymore. I became Robin again, my dad didn't like it but at least he understands. _

_This is me. I'm not an acrobat, like Dick, or a brawler, like Jason. I'm just a computer nerd who knows martial arts, does push-ups and has a fancy belt with gadgets. I'm not going to be Robin forever, I know that. But, I won't become Batman, either. When I'm done with the cape, I'll find a new way to help. How I can find that way without a suit when my best friend is a Kryptonian/ human hybrid clone (I don't know the exact term, okay) and can fly is beyond me. _

------------------------------------------------------------

The first thing Tim Drake felt was pain. By now, he'd thought he'd have gotten used to it, and he had in a way. It took him a few seconds longer than usual to register where he was, possibly due to the beating he took.

_This is…my room in Titan's Tower. _

He got up painfully and looked around. He was back inside the tower, getting up his bed. On his door was a playing card with the Robin 'R' on. He hobbled over to the door carefully - a muscle had torn in his ankle during the fight, when he was suspended upside-down.

On closer examination, the card appeared to be made of a flexible metal. On the other side, his gloved fingers could just make out an inscription. Turning the card over, he read:

'_Thank you for your time. I can't remember when I last had so much fun (and I really can't). _

_This message is meant to remind you that the beating wasn't personal, but I would like to request that you keep this affair private. _

_Otherwise, things may become very personal._

_Best wishes'_

Robin turned on his communicator, hoping someone would answer.

"Is everyone alright?" A few seconds later, Beast Boy answered

"Yeah, we're fine, but Vic's stuck on the roof."

"He's stuck?"

"Yeah, his power's so low he can't get down. Everyone assemble down in the meeting room in an hour."

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Later, after being treated by Raven, the team assembled in the meeting room in the Tower's lower levels. A list of known Titans adversaries appeared on the main monitor. Everyone held a card identical to Tim's, except theirs had different symbols (a hollow 'S' for Connor, a 'WWG' for Cassie, a cog for Victor, a star for Starfire, a Raven, and a pair of fangs).

On his way to the meeting room, Tim saw that the Tower's kitchen had been repaired. There wasn't as much as a speck of dust in the floor. Even the newly made hole in the wall had been repaired. It was almost as if nothing had happened, not taking the bruises on his team-mates into account.

Tim noticed that Cyborg's left arm had been repaired, but he doubted that Victor could have repaired it so fast, especially as he had apparently woken up on the Tower roof, far from anywhere he could be repaired. That, and Gar probably didn't know the first thing about electronics.

_Why would he repair Cyborg? Before, he tried to gut him. _

_Another mystery to solve…. _

"So…" Connor began, tapping his fingers, "anyone got any leads on this guy?"

"We know that he ran out of ideas when he chose a symbol for me." Gar joked, waving his card.

Victor shrugged. "I've looked in the files and he doesn't appear anywhere."

"Yeah, I think any of us would know if we hacked off a lunatic like him lately." Gar said, checking a file.

"We would know that," Raven said, her fingers entwined, "no-one we've faced could do that to my soul-self."

"Or repair my arm that quickly." Cyborg chimed in.

"Exactly…" Gar trailed off before looking straight towards Raven. "Um, do WHAT exactly to your soul-self."

Raven explained "It's hard to explain, but…when my soul-self enters someone, I take some of the pains they carry inside. When it touched him…something else entered my soul-self, something…" She searched for the right words. "Something…dark and cold, something ancient, was there. My soul-self couldn't handle it."

"Why did you laugh and--" Robin asked.

"…what were you trying to say?" Gar cut in

She shrugged. "I don't really know. One moment, I was completely rational, the next I was…"

"…Happy as a clown?" Bart offered.

"…that is…an adequate way of putting it." She paused before continuing. "When my soul self entered, I saw inside his mind, I saw some of his memories."

"What kind? Was there anything we can use?" Cassie enquired

Raven shook her head. "They're jumbled, they make no sense. I know he was in pain for such a long time…and he connects us to that pain, but he isn't angry towards us. A word popped into his mind over and over again…Philadelphia."

"Philadelphia?" Gar asked, scratching behind his head in a manner reminiscent of a dog.

"Bart." Connor didn't bother glancing in Bart's direction, anticipating that he knew something no-one else did.

Bart cleared his throat. "I'll look it up. Apart from the town in Pennsylvania, I know the conspiracy theory."

"There's a conspiracy theory?" Connor asked, scratching his head.

Bart paused, picking up his train of thought, before answering. "The conspiracy theory is that around October 28th, 1943, the U.S. Navy conducted a secret experiment involving invisibility on a battleship, which went wrong and resulted in the entire ship becoming briefly invisible and being teleported all the way from Philadelphia to Virginia and back. I mean, the story's full of holes and the science makes no sense--"

"Forget I asked." Connor cut in.

"What about the JLA and JSA files?" Cassie said, staring at the monitor.

"I already checked. No one matches his description or demonstrated abilities." Bart answered. He practically memorised the entire JLA & JSA files months ago. Double-checking it would only take about 2 seconds of his time.

"So…" Kory spoke carefully and slowly, "we have thousands of files available…and all we have is a paranoid theory? I can't, no, I refuse to accept that."

"Well," Cyborg said, removing a floppy disk from the mechanical side of his face, "we do have this."

"What's that, Tactical data?" Robin asked.

"Nope, just something that may help to even the odds." He twirled the disk between his fingers.

"Speaking of 'evening the odds'," Cassie said, "Maybe now's a good time to call for re-enforcements."

"I'm not saying that this guy's too tough," she hastily followed up, cutting off Connor, "I'm just saying that maybe JLA, JSA or other Titans members might have had experience that was never put in a file, which can help us end this quickly."

"We can't do that, Cass." Tim said, his eyes staring at his card. "If we do, he'll make things 'personal' for us."

"…And that means…?" Connor asked.

"Come on, Connor! He knows who we are. He might just go after our loved ones." Bart answered, grimly

Connor opened his mouth, probably to say something about Kory or Raven being exceptions, but thought better of it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday, 10:00pm, on a Gotham city rooftop far from San Francisco, was the boy wonder. He was observing four masked thugs in an alley, who were about to rough up a shopkeeper for protection money. Each thug wore a different colour mask, possibly indicating some kind of rank. They hadn't noticed him, thankfully, as, unlike most of the Titans; he had to worry about bullets.

The usual arrangement was that the younger Titans (Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and Superboy) only stayed at Titans Tower during weekends and certain holidays, except in emergencies. Their recent beating didn't count.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over the past few days, their mystery guest had been committing random criminal acts in San Francisco, all of which involved theft. The strange thing was that none of these things he stole had any actual value. On Sunday, he stole several steel girders from a construction site. The day after, he took six large satellite dishes from several random stores.

Everyone checked, and these items were all completely ordinary, there was absolutely no conceivable reason why he would take them. He also made sure no-one ever got hurt in his crimes, by scaring civilians away before stealing, or stealing at night. When he encountered the police, he never retaliated to their gunshots; instead he ignored them (bullet-proof, go figure) or occasionally knocking them out by exhaling what one officer described as 'a blue cloud that smelled like burritos'.

It made no sense that a person capable of threatening their loved ones would try to avoid innocent casualties.

The others had no idea what it felt like for a detective to admit a crime had no motive. Luckily, Robin wasn't in that position…yet.

The only good news was that, for their trouble, the boys down at the San Fran branch of S.T.A.R. Labs had managed to isolate a unique energy signature from the scans on Cyborg's disk and the cards. So unique that they couldn't identify it, but they at least created something to track it. More bad news was that Cyborg reported that the damn machine had blown up the second it was turned on; the S.T.A.R. personnel couldn't explain it. A theory was that this energy was so abundant, that the sensor had overloaded, but that didn't make sense either.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the ground, the thugs were getting impatient.

"Look, pallie," a grey masked thug threatened, "give us the $300 grand!" He brandished a large knife in the poor mans' face

"Yeah…" a green masked thug said, waving a large lead pipe.

"…or else…" a blue masked thug continued, pulling out a switchblade

"…we'll make sure your shop stays closed." A red masked thug finished, pulling back the hammer on a colt.45 magnum.

The shopkeeper trembled in fear. "I…I'm sorry. I…I…could only g…get a hold of $1000. I…I'm sorry."

Red mask pointed his gun at the shopkeeper's forehead.

"Saying 'sorry' doesn't get you into your next life."

"B…but I d…don't believe in re-incarnation."

Blue mask moved his switchblade closer, grinning. "Too bad, neither do we."

Robin made his move.

Two batarangs knocked Red mask and Blue mask's weapons out of their hands. Before the thugs could register what had happened, a smoke grenade exploded at their feet, causing them to cough and sputter.

"The little creep set us up!" Grey mask roared.

Red mask fired his gun. Instead of hearing the sound they expected, they heard the sound of a bullet hitting brick. The bullet must have missed.

Blue mask cursed. "Idiot, can't even hit a scared little--"

"I don't see you with a gun!" Red mask retorted.

A shadow suddenly moved through the smoke. It punched Red mask in the gut, before punching him in the face, knocking him out. The shadow then sent a foot into Blue mask's face. He went down like a ton of bricks.

Green mask and Grey mask managed to escape from the smoke. They made their way to the other end of the alley, coughing and spluttering.

"W…what the hell was that?" Green mask spluttered.

"Don't know, but you can say hello to it." Grey mask then flung Green mask back into the smoke, before running away. A dark object flew out of the smoke, hitting the back of Grey mask's head, knocking him to the ground. He didn't get up

Green mask swung his lead pipe into the smoke. He was swinging wildly, acting purely on adrenalin. His fear was causing his hands to shake.

"Where are you!" He yelled at nowhere in particular.

A voice in the smoke answered him. "I'm right behind you."

The thug swung round, his pipe hitting nothing except the wall. Then a staff swung into his arm, causing him to drop his pipe. The thug swung around again, screaming in pain. He got a fist in his face for his trouble.

"I told you I was behind you." Robin quipped, slapping a pair of bat-cuffs onto the unconscious goon.

He went to check on the shopkeeper. He had fainted when Blue mask put a switchblade in his face, although suddenly being hoisted 10 feet above the ground by a cable didn't help. He was still out cold.

All of this had taken place within about 38 seconds.

_Damn, I've slowed down. That shouldn't even have taken 20_

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Compared to the usual things that happened in Gotham, especially now, this was a slow night.

After dropping off the shopkeeper, Tim set off home. So far, Batman hadn't called, so he had to assume nothing serious had occurred. Then again, if anything had happened, chances are something would have exploded.

Tim thought about how long it had taken him to beat up those thugs. When he fought them his mind wasn't on the job, but it was on something else that those thugs made him think about.

_Black mask_

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Black mask

A notorious Gotham gang lord with a disfigured face, who'd taken something precious from both Tim…and Batman.

The life of a girl… named Stephanie Brown.

Soon after Tim became Robin, he met Stephanie. She had also become a crime-fighter, calling herself the Spoiler. This was, apparently, an act of defiance towards her father, who she had discovered was a criminal called the Clue-master (hence her codename), but she continued because she loved it. When they met, there was… chemistry between them. They would flirt occasionally, and their relationship had…highs and lows, but nothing major ever came from it. Eventually, she found out his identity

Then Tim had to quit being Robin. She managed to convince Batman to let her become the new Robin, but he fired her after she disobeyed orders. Her attempts to prove herself to Batman helped to escalate a developing Gang war in Gotham. Black mask captured and tortured her, but she escaped. In the end, she got to a hospital, but her injuries resulted in her death. Batman was at her side…while Tim was living a normal life.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Was her death my fault?_ Tim wondered, pausing on a secluded rooftop, checking to see if he was being watched.

_If I hadn't quit…if I hadn't listened to my dad…maybe she…she--_

"Damn!" He punched his hand in frustration. It wasn't always down to him. No matter how hard he trained, no matter how hard he tried, things like this could happen. He simply couldn't be everywhere at once.

It was times like this that he envied Connor and Bart. Their powers made things much easier for them. Then again, he noted, their powers meant that they didn't work as hard as he did; they took their gifts for granted. They couldn't be everywhere at once either.

Speaking of time, his dad would be worried about him. It still felt weird, his dad knowing about his…extra-curricular activities. His dad understood why; after all, he couldn't just UN-learn several martial arts, detective skills, computer skills and forensics skills. Robin wasn't just a costume; Robin was an idea, an idea that was as much a part of him as his father was.

_Figures,_ he thought bitterly to himself, _I wanted my dad to know about what I do. Now that he does, I'm still not satisfied._

_What did I want him to do? Give me a pat on the back and say 'Good work, son. You can go clean up the streets after doing your homework.' _

_I hated lying to him, but seeing him worry about me is almost as bad. I know he's afraid for me, and I wish he didn't have to be. _

_Some people think I'm Batman's kid, and boy, are they wrong._

That bought up something else his father asked him once, _"Do you want to be Batman?" _

_No. I don't want to be Batman. I won't become Batman._

Somehow, Tim thought that his father doubted that. After all, what kid in Gotham doesn't want to be Batman?

_I don't…_

With that, Tim set off home again, his issues still unresolved.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elsewhere, in a place most would consider unnatural, there exists a construct. Unnatural, in the sense that most of the universe doesn't know it exists. The construct wasn't constructed by human hands, but by the twisted mind of something which was once human. The walls are made of random material, mostly stone and steel, with something unidentifiable mixed in. It shouldn't exist, but it does.

The construct bears a vague resemblance to a castle of some kind, only much bigger. Inside, its design and decoration are baffling, having no definite order or pattern to it. Yet its sole living occupant and his army of steel servants navigate with ease. So vast is it that it would have taken about 50 years of constant work, without rest, to produce it, yet it took under 2 years to build, by its sole inhabitant, who never sleeps.

The place itself is random, with weather patterns changing every few seconds. It mostly alternates between freezing cold, intense storms with discharges of an unknown energy, and 'calm' - no storms or cold, simply unnatural quiet. There is no sun; instead the luminescence comes from the ground itself. It is a strange place, and not one for holiday goers. The very laws of physics are something to be toyed with here.

Its sole living inhabitant watches a group of robots arrange a group of rag-tag assembled items into a strange configuration. The six large satellite dishes pointed towards each other, while several identical robots added extra components to them.

A separate group of robots were throwing girders into a large pit of molten metal.

_Soon_, he thought, tapping his fingers onto the side of his expressionless faceplate, soon _I'll have a new home… one with a beach._

"COG!" He yelled, addressing a crowd of robots.

A medium height, slightly hunched, robot made its way to him on its caterpillar tracks.

"You bellowed, sir?" Cog replied in a cultured English voice.

Aftermath leaned closer.

"What stage is the process at now?"

"Shouldn't YOU be monitoring it?"

Aftermath put a hand to his head. The damn thing was getting to big for its treads

"What was the first thing I taught you?"

"Forks go in the left hand, knives and spoons in the right."

"That was the first thing?"

The robot nodded.

"I meant the one where you do exactly as I say."

The robot made a gesture, as if recalling something. "Oh, law 7 is what you meant."

The madman groaned in annoyance. Don't tell me I created another A.I. with a personality defect. If so, it was the 8th time that it had happened.

_Why do so many of my creations have crappy personalities? That's mad science for you._

"What is the stage?"

"It's at stage 4 right now."

"Excellent, only 2 stages left."

"Yes, that is what I implied."

Aftermath sighed. "Be careful what you say. I made your brain using a toaster, and I can make you into a better toaster."

The robot retreated and went back to work.

The madman played with a metal globe. The globe flashed an image of San Francisco from the air.

"Look out, San Fran. It's almost time for the kids to visit again, and this time, they're going to spend their money wisely."


	4. Chapter 4: Hooky

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans in any way, shape or form. Any similarities to anyone's work are purely a co-incidence.

**The Forgotten**

Part 4 - Hooky 

_My name is experiment 13, but people call me Connor Kent (or Kon El, my Kryptonian name). My story is rather complex to explain. Basically, I'm Superman's clone (YEAH, you reads that). I was 'born' about a month after Superman died for the first time. His body was stolen from his crypt by some government agency called CADMUS. Eventually, they got a D.N.A. sample (don't ask how), and they managed to grow me inside a test tube, prodding and poking me. I was grown in the space of a few days and aged. I may look 16-17, but technically, I'm should be in diapers (although, I never wore a diaper). _

_Eventually, I escaped and went to cash in on Superman's rep, calling myself 'Superman' and saying I was the real deal. Then he came back, and I became Superboy, officially. I'm cool with it now, but before I HATED being called 'Superboy'; it was either 'Superman' or 'the kid'. _

_I mostly used my powers to become famous, as well as the whole truth & justice shtick. I got a manager, went to Hawaii, got crappy merchandise and made a few enemies. Me, Robin and Impulse joined forces as the original Young Justice roster, and I met Cassie on the team. I also got a girl named Tana Moon, a wannabe reporter. Tana and I became close, but then she was murdered, because the bad guys wanted to get to me. They succeeded. After she died, I quit showbiz, gave myself a secret Id - Connor Kent (as in Clark Kent), and I moved onto the Kent farm. I started high school, which is SO boring. I get put in detention practically every other day. I also started to notice Cassie more. I mean, she always kind of had a crush on me, and at first she worked hard to make me notice her (which I so didn't at first). After a while, we got closer and started dating, which we still do. _

_There's something else that I never mentioned. Kryptonian D.N.A. is very difficult to copy. When they try, you get things like Bizarro (think Superman in need of a planet load of moisturising cream, who talks backwards). Instead, the boys at CADMUS mixed Superman's D.N.A. with human D.N.A. and…bingo. At first, I didn't have any Kryptonian powers. Instead, I got tactile telekinesis (I can affect anything I touch with my mind, as well as fly). It's very useful, as I can use it to disassemble objects (i.e. robots), create micro-earthquakes, create small force fields or just knock things away. _

_With my TTK, I could duplicate strength, flight and invulnerability, but it couldn't stop energy attacks. It was kind of painful finding that out (I pulled a friend out of a fire, and I burnt my hands in the process). Now, my body is developing powers like Superman, and I still have my TTK, which means that when I grow up, I'll be Superman plus. One major downside is that my human D.N.A. came from (drum roll please) Lex Luthor, as in grade 'A', bad guy supreme, former president and Superman's greatest enemy. So far, only me and Tim (a.k.a. Robin, my best friend) know. The real question is how do I tell Cassie there's a slight chance I may develop baldness and megalomania?_

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Friday, 9:30 AM, in Smallville, Kansas. A boy stood before a snow-white dog on a farm. The boy, dressed in a buttoned-up shirt and wearing a pair of glasses, waved a stick in front of the dog, before flinging it upwards, towards the sky, disappearing from sight.

"Go on boy, fetch." The boy said. The dog cocked its head, giving him a puzzled expression.

"What?" The boy threw up his arms in annoyance. "I know you can fly, Krypto, so what's the big deal?"

The dog still stared at him.

The boy sighed, removing his glasses.

_Figures. Robin gets to hang around with Nightwing, while I'm stuck with the super-dog who doesn't play fetch. _

Today, he got lucky. School was cancelled, due to the roof suddenly collapsing overnight, so he got the whole day off. Instead of failing algebra, he was failing to teach a dog tricks.

"Screw this; I'm going to Titans Tower." The boy put his glasses inside, before styling his hair and ripping his shirt open to reveal a black T-shirt, bearing the Superman 'S' shield. The transformation from Connor Kent to Superboy was complete.

_I never could figure out how a pair of fake glasses could fool so many people, including me. _

He made as if to fly off, but noticed Krypto looking at him.

"Stay boy!" He said in what he thought was a commanding voice. He then leapt into the air, hovering while he tilted into the direction of San Francisco.

"Up…up…and I'm outta here!" He then zoomed off, faster than a speeding bullet.

A few seconds later, he stood in front of Titans Tower. Before he could enter, he felt something brush his leg. Krypto had followed him.

"Why couldn't Superman have given you a Kryptonite leash?" He sighed, bending down to scratch behind the dog's ears.

Clark told him that looking after Krypto was meant to teach him (Connor) some responsibility. After all, how many people could say that they've looked after a dog from Krypton? (Technically, it was a Krypton from a parallel universe, but it still counted).

-------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey guys, what's happenin'?" He asked, walking into the living room. It was practically deserted, except for Beast Boy, who was engrossed with a game on the Playtendo.

"Hey." Gar replied nonchalantly, not really paying attention. A minute later, he asked "Why aren't you at school?"

"Got the day off."

"…How come?"

"The roof collapsed overnight."

"Oh." That caused Gar to return to reality, finally noticing Connor. "The roof collapsed overnight?" He repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, and…"

"Do I look like I was born yesterday?" He changed into a donkey, giving a brief 'hee-haw'. "The roof collapses overnight. You're Superboy and you don't like school, so…"

"So maybe I did it?"

Gar shrugged his now-human shoulders.

Connor smirked. "If I'd done it, there wouldn't be a school to go back to."

Gar thought this over, changing to gorilla and scratching behind his ear with a foot. "Good point."

Connor changed the subject. "Where's Vic?"

"Still working on that damn machine, he hasn't left his room since Sunday. As far as I can tell, he still works on it when he's asleep."

For Cyborg that wouldn't really be a problem. A side effect of being like he was, Victor's body was high maintenance. He could either spend the week at S.T.A.R. labs being cleaned, or the machine part of his brain could do it while he slept. So, every night, his body was taken apart in his room, being cleaned and updated by machines while he slept. Connor saw it first hand, when he followed Krypto into Cyborg's 'room'. He still wasn't over the shock of seeing Cyborg's severed head talk to him.

Moving on to a less shocking subject, he asked Gar about Kory.

"She's in her garden." Gar replied, now back in game mode. Connor gulped, he knew Starfire would be less than enthusiastic about Krypto…

"Let me guess, Raven's in her room meditating?"

"You got it in one."

"What're you playing?"

"What?" Gar had zoned out again.

This time, Connor made a high pitched whistle, making Gar put his hands to his ears. "What are you playing!"

Gar rubbed his pointed ears. "It's Delta Wars X-3." His eyes snapped back to the screen. "Damn it, you made me lose concentration! I just died thanks to you."

The words 'Game Over' flashed on screen.

Connor couldn't believe what he heard. "Delta Wars X-3, no way! It's not even out yet."

"We got a trial version in the mail. A rich computer nerd's way of saying thanks to Kory."

"How do you know it's for Kory?"

"He sent a box of candy with her name along with it."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

A few moments later, Gar and Connor were playing against each other. They had no idea how long they'd been playing.

Their characters were blasting the hell out of each other. Krypto was barking at the screen. Gar got the upper hand by throwing a magna-bomb, disabling Connor's weapons.

"Cheep shot." Connor muttered, still trying to beat Gar using his plasma sword.

It wasn't working. Connor's life bar was almost empty. One more hit, and he was done for. The winning blow seemed to come in slow motion. It almost reached him…

…before the screen went blank.

"What the--" they both yelled, simultaneously.

Then they turned around, and saw what went wrong. Starfire was holding the power cable.

"Why'd you do that? I almost beat him." Connor demanded.

Gar looked at him. "Almost beat me? It looked more like I was about to serve you on a platter."

"Enough," Starfire insisted, dropping the cable, "Victor needs the extra power, so all no-essential functions are to be stopped."

"Why didn't he warn us?"

"He did, Garfield. He called you fifteen times, and then called me when you didn't answer." She turned towards Connor. "Why aren't you in school? Also," she looked at Krypto, who was backed into a corner, snivelling, "why is HE here?"

"Well, my school roof collapsed overnight, so school was cancelled. I was bored, so I came here. Krypto followed me."

It wasn't a secret that Starfire had it in for Krypto. On several occasions, he had ravaged her garden, which contained a few plant from her now-destroyed home world. Also, Connor left him in her room when the Titans went on a particular mission. She threatened to 'turn Krypto into bacon' if he ever came near her garden.

"Your school roof collapsed?" She asked incredulously, her arms folded across her chest.

"Yes, why does no-one believe me when I say that?"

"How long have you been here?" She asked.

"Well since 10 o'clock." He turned to look at a clock on the wall. It was now 2:15.

_Damn that WAS a good game_

"Here's an idea." Gar piped in. "We could go stretch our legs by looking around the town. That way, we get something done, and we're out of the way."

Starfire nodded. "That would work, as long as you take HIM." She pointed a finger at Krypto.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Herman Webster entered his dingy, one room apartment in San Francisco. It hardly seemed fair, after what he had accomplished before, that he should be relegated to living in this festering dump. Still, at least he had his health.

…If you could call having a stomach ulcer 'healthy'.

He soon noticed a folder on his hard, uncomfortable bed. It looked so out of place that he noticed it almost immediately. It simply looked so clean in comparison. Without hesitation he opened it. Inside, he found a letter, along with several documents.

The letter only had a few sentences;

Former-agent 027

Project: - Philadelphia was an unqualified success.

He's alive, your theory was correct.

A friend

_Project: - Philadelphia? This must be a sick joke_

Still, he looked at the following documents. Not many people knew the name he referred to himself as in his…better days, so the sender must have something important to say.

In the documents, he saw photographs, as well as direction to a location in San Francisco. Several photographs showed the image of a familiar, but long-dead young man, aged somewhere between 17 and 19. Another set had the image of an armoured figure, clad in black and silver armour, wearing a helmet with a glass/ plastic visor. He flicked through the set until he came across one of the figure without the helmet…

…_Impossible._

He compared the image of the unmasked stranger with that of the dead man. It was improbable, it was…mind-boggling. Bu, there it was, this…hideous face he saw before him had an uncanny resemblance to that of his deceased…comrade.

_A trick... that's all it is. A cheap, dirty trick, that's all. _

So why couldn't he throw away the envelope?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

3:00, in a small jewellery store. The store was being held up by 3 masked goons, stuffing jewels into sacks; two large men carrying shotguns and one average height goon carrying two old-fashioned revolvers. One of the shotgun carriers had a bracelet with green stones around his wrist.

"Alright, everyone lay down on the ground, now!" The revolver-carrier yelled in a Texan accent, twirling his guns in a cowboy fashion.

"I told ye 'twould be easy, Tex." The large man with the bracelet said in an Irish accent. "Me Grandma's lucky charms'll keep us safe."

"Irish," the other goon cut in, not taking his eye off the patrons, "there's no such thing as lucky charms. How many times do I gotta tell you?"

"Lance, me Grandma gambled all the time wit' these, and she never lost a single game."

"Yeah, but then she died."

"That doesn't count."

"Doesn't…you idiot, Irish, if they were lucky, how come you lost your money gambling?"

"Yeah, but…if I hadn't lost it, I would have caught food poisoning from that restaurant, like the lot of you did the other week."

Lance fumed. "…Shut up, Irish!"

"Who needs super-hearing?" A cocky voice asked. The goons turned around to face a teenager in a black T-shirt bearing the Superman 'S'. The way you idiots were gabbing, I'm surprised they didn't hear you in Gotham city."

"Oh crap, it's Superboy!" Tex exclaimed, dropping his guns.

"He's Super…What?" Irish asked, keeping his shotgun trained on Superboy.

"Come on, Irish, he's Superman's kid brother." Lance answered, dropping his sack of loot.

"That's CLONE. I'm Superman's CLONE. Do you want me to write that down?" He took a few steps forward, towards Irish. He suddenly stopped, bracing himself against a counter. He could feel a burning sensation inside him, like his blood was on fire. He tried to hide his pain, but if he could feel this…that meant only one thing; he saw Irish's charm bracelet.

…_Damn, kryptonite lucky charms._

Irish stepped closer, noticing the change.

"He don't look too hot. I think I can take him with one arm behind me back." He sent a right hook into Connor's face, knocking him down. Superboy struggled to wipe a trace of blood from his lip.

"I told you they were lucky!" Irish gloated to Lance as they dashed through the door.

"Shut up Irish."

"What was the hold up?" An attractive brunette in the driver's seat of their getaway van asked while they climbed in.

"Nothing, I just decked Superboy, Stacy." Irish clearly wasn't letting this go.

"Did you beat him real bad?" Stacy asked, hitting the gas.

"No, just gave him a right hook."

"Shame…the kid's cute."

"Really…? I think I'm cuter." A green monkey said, climbing across the windshield.

------------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as the goons left, Superboy began to recover. His cuts and bruises were already starting to heal.

"Lying down on the job?" A distant-yet-close voice asked.

"Not you? Why couldn't it be a real super-villain? Was Darkseid too busy?" At the moment, making smart assed jokes was all Superboy could manage.

_Kory, Gar, could you stop chasing those goons long enough to HELP me? _

"That's very funny, boy blue. Now, let's see you FLY!" Aftermath grabbed Superboy and hauled him outside. He then swung him around before releasing him, sending him shooting into the air. After he smashed through a billboard, something caught him. Connor managed to turn his head to face whatever held him.

It was Aftermath. He was hovering in mid-air, holding Connor under the arms.

"This just isn't your day, is it?"

With his newly-recovered strength, Superboy broke free from his grip, grappling with him in midair.

"…Superboy express going down!" The boy of steel launched himself down, dragging Aftermath with him. The two crashed through an unfinished building, ploughing into the ground.

"So, Son of Luthor, what brings you here this early?" Aftermath asked, grappling with Superboy on the ground.

"How do you know about Luthor?"

"Your eyes may have X-ray vision, but mine see everything."

Aftermath got the upper hand, throttling Superboy with both hands. He eased up when he noticed a white dog in a red cape nearby.

"Why, aren't you the cutest little dog I ever did see?" He stared at Krypto for a while before turning back to Superboy. "Where's he from?"

_Krypto, if there was ever a time for you to obey me, NOW is the time._

"Get him."

Aftermath's visor lifted up.

"What?"

Krypto launched through the air, latching on to Aftermath's right arm. He let go of Connor and stared at the dog, while it was tearing at his arm.

"You know, this is just low. Using a dog to fight your battles now?" He shook his arm trying to dislodge the dog.

"Why not just fry him?" Connor asked, rubbing the spot the lunatic had grabbed.

Aftermath looked at him as if he'd just said that 2 + 2 makes 5. "What, and have the animal rights people on my ass? I have principles, you know."

Suddenly, his arm just came off in Krypto's mouth. It just came clean off.

"Omigod, rover just ripped off my arm!" Aftermath screamed, collapsing onto the ground.

"Krypto! Put his arm down. PUT HIS ARM DOWN!" Connor yelled, wrestling it out of Krypto's mouth, before dropping it in disgust. "Bad dog!" Krypto whined, doing that thing dogs do when they know they've done something wrong.

Superboy rushed to the lunatic's side. The stump where his arm used to be was oozing out a blue gas instead of blood.

"I know it looks bad." Aftermath said, his glowing eyes apparently looking at his new stump. "Well…at least everyone will know which hand I write with."

"D…Don't worry, they…they can re-attach it." Superboy said, clearly panicking. It was a stupid idea, as this guy's physiology, his body, clearly wasn't human…and if he was, re-attaching arms wasn't like plugging in a Playtendo.

_Superman's gonna kill me. I was supposed to teach Krypto to go easy, not rip arms off._

Aftermath's eyes pointed towards Superboy through the newly closed visor. "Don't worry, kid, I don't hold it against you…"

Suddenly, the severed arm flew off the floor, throttling Superboy. "…but I can't say the same for my arm."

Krypto rose up above the ground, snarling. Aftermath's mouth hole opened up and he exhaled a blue mist into the Super-dog's face. In a matter of seconds, Krypto dropped to the ground, out cold.

_NO_

Superboy focused his heat-vision onto the arm, forcing it to let go. The arm sailed through the air, re-attaching seamlessly to its owner's body.

"Nothing quite like a bit of D.I.Y., is there?" Aftermath laughed, flexing his right hand

"…How…How did you do that?" Superboy asked massaging his throat again.

"What, knock out the super-dog, or the arm thing?"

"Both."

"Well," Aftermath began, slowly advancing forward, "I can control my arm like that, because I built that feature into it. I control everything my body does. As for the 'breath thing'…well, I'm blight, a stain, a plague, the universe itself rejects me."

"So, you're saying…?"

"I'm saying that I am one of the many diseases that affect this universe. The only ones more damaging than me are politicians and lawyers, always lawyers. Now where was I…?" He pulled out his scimitar.

Superboy was nonchalant. "Like a sword can seriously hurt me."

Aftermath made a lightning-like slash across Superboy's arm, leaving a small cut.

"This one can…"

Before he could lash again, Superboy sent a bolt of heat-vision at him, which was deflected by the sword blade into a support column, destroying it.

"No point in making a weapon capable of cutting through your aura-strengthened hide if it doesn't deflect energy, Con…Superboy."

Superboy was about to go into another fistfight, but thought better of it. As big a pain as he was, he couldn't leave Krypto. The supports gave him an idea.

"Hey, you like lawyers, right?" He flew in front of a support column. "Guess I'll need to call up mine from when I was a star. Gonna need one to sort out the mess you keep leaving."

It worked. His eyes were getting brighter, possibly indicating that he was being riled up.

"Oh, yeah, I wanted a word with you about that. When you were in showbiz, your manager flogged crappy merchandise. Big mistake, but not as big as the mistake YOU just made."

He pointed his index fingers at Superboy, sending 2 beams of blue energy at him.

Superboy dodged out of the way. The column behind him was destroyed. Superboy ran, followed by the beams. Another support was cracked (a beam grazed it). Aftermath halted his beam attack.

Close enough

"I know what you're trying to do, Boy blue, but it won't work."

"Oh yes it will!" Connor shot forward, grabbing Aftermath's arms. The two grappled, with Superboy quickly gaining the upper hand.

_Funny_, Connor thought, as he began spinning around on the spot, he put up more of a fight at the Tower. _He's weaker than I remember…or maybe I'm stronger. _

He let go, sending Aftermath flying into the cracked support column, shattering it. In the blink of an eyelid, Superboy was gone, taking Krypto with him. A second later, the entire structure collapsed on top of Aftermath, burying him in the rubble.

_Oh yeah, I'm da MAN. Wait till the others hear about this…_

------------------------------------------------------------------

Speaking of the others…

His communicator rang. "Hello, Superboy here, how can I direct you to the nearest ass wupping?"

**S.B., are you okay?** Cyborg was on the other end of the line. He sounded pretty pleased. **I've got some good news.**

"So do I, why don't you go first."

**I got the machine working, at last.**

"What was the problem?"

**Nothing, the machine was just too sensitive. The lab boys assumed there wouldn't be that much energy, because my scans weren't accurate and the levels on the cards were very low.**

"Can you track him, yet?"

**Well, there was an energy surge near you a few seconds ago.**

"How do you know where I am?" Connor looked around, expecting to see Cyborg somewhere.

**Your communicator, you see anything unusual?**

"No…" he scanned the area again, this time with X-ray vision. What he saw was normal, what he didn't see was Aftermath's body in the rubble. "Guess what? I totally decked Aftermath. He's buried under a construction site…well he WAS buried. He just…vanished."

**He must have teleported. You handled him by yourself?**

"Well…Krypto helped a little. Speaking of which, I need to see Raven."

**She's downtown, with the others.**

"The others, what time is it?"

**5 o'clock.**

"Really, well, I'll see you soon, over and out."

With that, Superboy leapt into the air, carrying Krypto.

"Up…up…and I'm outta here." He really needed to trademark that. He was getting used to saying that corny catchphrase all over again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Superboy shot off, Aftermath watched him from a nearby rooftop. "I think I'll steal your line." He murmured to himself.

Now, he should follow him. Those punks that Starfire and Beast Boy were chasing had something he wanted. It was a mistake to engage Super-Luthor right now, but it was too much fun to resist.

The dog clearly wasn't from Earth, but it was the least of his many concerns. All he needed to finish the project was the right raw material…as well as unwilling assistance.

_Not long now… _

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Herman Webster was sitting in his apartment watching the news; the only program he bothered with anymore. The typically attractive female reporter was blabbing on about a hold-up at some jewellery store. As usual, Herman was barely paying attention. After the scare the fake envelope gave him, he needed some normalcy.

A section of amateur footage caught his eye, snapping him out of his daze. The poor-quality footage showed a tall armoured figure dragging one of the Teen Titans … the one called 'Superboy'… out of the store, before flinging him into the air like a rag doll. The footage paused before zooming in on the figure's face.

It was the same armoured figure from the photographs. Right down to the eerily glowing eyes.

Herman stared at the screen, shell-shocked. "My god, Eric, what have we done to you…?"


End file.
